R.E.M. Caps Its 31-Year Recording Career With Its First-Ever Definitive Greatest Hits Album

After R.E.M. ignited the blogosphere on September 21st with the news that they had decided to "call it a day as a band" via a statement on their website, the beloved band have announced that they will release their final album, R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 - 2011, on Warner Bros. Records on November 15th, 2011. The album is a 40-song career-spanning retrospective that collects, for the first time ever, songs from R.E.M.'s entire back catalog, including the pioneering American band's years on both the IRS label (1982 to 1987) and Warner Bros. Records (1988 to 2011). The album is currently available for pre-order on Amazon here. A brand-new song, "We All Go Back To Where We Belong," goes to radio and will be available for sale on October 18th.

R.E.M. formed in 1980 when singer Michael Stipe met guitarist Peter Buck in an Athens, GA, record store where Buck worked. After recruiting bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry, R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe," in 1981, followed by 1982's Chronic Town EP, capturing the imagination of a new generation of music lovers and bringing "guitar pop back into the underground lexicon," as All-Music put it. Widely credited with inventing the college-rock genre, R.E.M. became the most influential American alternative rock band in history -- inspiring such artists as Sonic Youth, Pavement, Nirvana, and Radiohead -- for achieving multi-platinum mainstream success while maintaining their distinct identity.

Over the course of its career, the band has released 15 studio albums: Murmur (1983), Reckoning (1984), Fables of the Reconstruction (1985), Lifes Rich Pageant (1986), Document (1987), Green (1988), Out of Time (1991), Automatic For The People (1992), Monster (1994), New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996), Up (1998), Reveal (2001), Around the Sun (2004), Accelerate (2008), and Collapse Into Now (2011). They have sold more than 85 million albums worldwide.

"Working through our music and memories from over three decades was a hell of a journey," says Mike Mills of choosing the songs that appear on R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 - 2011. "We realized that these songs seemed to draw a natural line under the last 31 years of our working together."

In addition to liner notes written by band members Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe, the album also features three new songs that R.E.M. finished after they completed their last album, Collapse Into Now: "A Month of Saturdays," "We All Go Back To Where We Belong," and "Hallelujah," which were recorded over the summer in Athens with Accelerate and Collapse Into Now producer, the estimable Jacknife Lee. The band came roaring back with those two albums in the last two years, achieving some of the best reviews of their career and enabling them to go out at the top of their game.

The track-listing for R.E.M., Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage, 1982 - 2011 is as follows:

Disc 1:Gardening At NightRadio Free EuropeTalk About The PassionSitting StillSo. Central Rain(Don't Go Back To) RockvilleDriver 8Life And How To Live ItBegin The BeginFall On MeFinest WorksongIt's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)The One I LoveStandPop Song 89Get UpOrange CrushLosing My ReligionCountry FeedbackShiny Happy People

Disc 2:The Sidewinder Sleeps ToniteEverybody HurtsMan On The MoonNightswimmingWhat's The Frequency, Kenneth?New Test LeperElectroliteAt My Most BeautifulThe Great BeyondImitation Of LifeBad DayLeaving New YorkLiving Well Is The Best RevengeSupernatural SuperseriousÜBerlinOh My HeartAlligator_Aviator_Autopilot_AntimatterA Month of SaturdaysWe All Go Back To Where We BelongHallelujah